One Williams Lake business put more than their heart on their sleeve to show support for the community of Tumbler Ridge.
Still North Design Co started a fundraiser, created a “Tumbler Ridge Strong” t-shirt, and gave 100 percent of the profits to their northern neighbours.
“Still North is known for it’s fundraisers, it’s something that’s really important to us when others are down, to pick them up, and show a sense of community,” Owner Courtney Vreeman said, “the tragedy didn’t happen that far from us, we all felt it, and we just thought there was something we could do. No amount of money in the world would ever make things better but a little bit of financial stress off the families probably would help.”
Vreeman said it was her staff that encouraged her to do this t-shirt fundraiser.
“So I took a few hours and came up with a design and put Tumbler Ridge Strong on it. We made just under a thousand t-shirts and sold them from February 11th to the 19th . I thought we would raise 10-thousand for sure, then we thought 15-thousand is our goal, and then we surpassed that when we sold them out and raised a grand total over $20 thousand. That’s pretty good for a small business that only has three employees.”
Vreeman said the local support was terrific as were the orders from beyond the Lake City.
“We got them from all over the world. Australia, quite a few from the States, Switzerland, and in our own Country as far east as New Brunswick. It just shows the vast amount of people who knew about it and were affected by it in some way.”
Vreeman thanked everyone who purchased a t-shirt and especially her staff who came in on their days off and contributed without taking a wage.
“I hope next time there is no tragedy that we have to make a tee for and I hope this is it.”
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